The mystery of the disappearing loin – is disease the culprit?

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments

Loin depth is one of the key characteristics that pork producers strive to increase because they are paid a premium for pigs with larger loins. So why has the average loin depth across the province dropped dramatically since the first quarter of 2005?
It’s a complicated issue, but perhaps the most likely culprit is disease.
Ontario pork producers have been battling several serious diseases over the past few years, including PRRS and circovirus. While the most obvious effects have been on increased mortality and morbidity rates and an increase in medication costs, the higher incidence of disease may also be having an effect on carcass characteristics.
Chris Hills works for Wallenstein Feed and Supply Ltd. He helps his customers analyze market hog data using Ontario Pork’s Online Information Network Knowledgebase (OINK). He often looks at the data and suggests to producers how marketing might be done differently to help them take advantage of premiums offered by the packers.
One of his clients came to him with a concern that the loin eye area of his hogs seemed to be decreasing steadily over time. Loin eye is a measurement of the meat in a pig’s back that makes up the pork chop and one of the key factors that those in the industry strive to maximize.
Hills took a look and discovered that the loin eye area of his producer’s stock was indeed declining. There had been eight turns through this particular barn over the span of about three years that seemed to show a steady decline. The market weight of the animals was not significantly different, but the average loin eye size had dropped from a high of 64.7 millimetres to 57.6 millimetres on the last group. “That’s huge!” says Hills.
The producer had changed genetics, but had switched to a line about three years ago which should have improved carcass quality. Hills contacted the genetics supplier and got recommendations for feed, but it has not made a difference. The producer has several other barns that are not using Wallenstein feed and they are all experiencing the same drop in loin eye area.
Hills was curious and raised the question among colleagues in the industry. He discovered that his producer was not alone and that data from Ontario Pork revealed that there had been a steady decline in loin eye area for all pigs marketed across Ontario since the first quarter of 2005.
In the same quarter of 2000, the average loin depth of pigs marketed in Ontario was 56.61 millimetres. It has increased every quarter until the first quarter of 2005, to a high of 63.17 millimetres, at which point it started to fall and has dropped each quarter since then to a low of 60.26 in 2006 (see chart 1). This is significant because it is not about one producer or one month. It is a measurement of all the pigs marketed in the province over the span of many months.

Guidelines For Estimating Swine (23 to 113 kg) Finishing Costs Based On Marketing 11,527 Pigs Sold

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This publication is intended to provide a format and a set of guidelines for determining the
cost of production for a finishing 23 – 113 kg enterprise. This type of operation is intended
to represent the third stage of a three stage pork system. The three production stages are
as follows: first stage – farrow to 5 kg, second stage – weaner pig (nursery) 5 to 23 kg, third
stage – grower/finisher 23 kg to market weight. Adjustments will be necessary when
applying these figures to your enterprise.
The assumptions on which the costs are based are outlined in the supporting pages.
These assumptions were arrived at using the breeding stock, management practices, and
facilities seen in modern, well managed swine operations of comparable size in Manitoba.
Productivity and performance assumptions are based on information collected by
department specialists, feed companies and other organizations. Where individual herd
productivity and performance levels differ from those listed adjustments will be required.
The guideline can be useful for comparison purposes. Comparison of costs at different
levels of production can be made with other farms, the farm over a period of time or
comparing the plan with the actual results at the end of the planning period

Taking the Pulse of the Ontario Pig Industry

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Gathering and analyzing current data on such topics
as size and number of farms, off-farm income, business
structures being used and producer demographics is
important if policies are to be developed that benefit not
only the present producer base, but also future generations
of producers.
To collect information about the Ontario pork industry
and identify current trends, Ken McEwan, College Professor,
and Lynn Marchand, Research Associate, of the University
of Guelph’s Ridgetown Campus spent last year surveying all
individuals who are raising one or more pigs. McEwan and
Marchand then developed a database which includes producer
age and level of education, farm business structure,
type of production, pig inventory, age of facilities, future
expansion or contraction plans and more. It was found that about 40 per cent of farrow-to-finish respondents are
considered small swine operations, with 50 or fewer sows. The researchers also found that there are fewer small
producers today and more large producers who are increasing
the size of their operations. In total, about 43 per cent of swine operations in the
province are sole proprietor, 28 per cent are partnerships, 24
per cent are family corporations and five per cent are business
corporations. Demographics of farmers have also changed. As would
be expected, the past seven years has seen the proportion
of farmers over 55 years old rise from about 20 per cent to
23 per cent. Older farmers leaving the industry outnumber
the number of young farmers by almost three to one. Perhaps the most surprising survey results have to
do with off-farm employment income. McEwan and
Marchand found that it exists on farms of all sizes, not just
on small farms. “About 23 per cent of all those surveyed
reported that they had off-farm employment income,”
McEwan reports.

An Overview of organic pig production

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Consumer demand for organic pork is rising. Some pork
producers may wish to capture part of this niche market.
The information on organic pork requirements presented
here is only a general overview. For detailed information,
refer to Canada’s Organic Production Systems — General
Principles and Management Standards or contact a
certifying body that meets your needs for production and
marketing. Organic pork production takes time, hard
work, and facility and management changes to meet all
the requirements. It requires research to determine
whether this type of production system is appropriate for
your operation. It is not for all pork producers.

Using a chemical equilibrium model to predict amendments required to precipitate phosphorus as struvite in liquid swine manure

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Precipitation of phosphate minerals from liquid swine manure is an established means of
reducing the orthophosphate (OP) concentration. This project investigated the usefulness
of a chemical equilibrium model, Visual Minteq, for prescribing the amendments needed to
maximize struvite precipitation from liquid swine manure and thus reduce the OP
phosphorus concentration. The actual concentrations of Mg2+, Ca2+, K+, OP, NH4
+, alkalinity
and pH from a liquid swine manure system were used as inputs to the model. The model
was modified to remove species with extremely low formation rates, because they would
not significantly precipitate in the reaction occurring in a short retention-time process such
as those envisioned for swine manure struvite-formation reactors. Using the model’s
output, a series of 19-L reactors were used to verify the results. Verification results
demonstrated that Visual Minteq can be used to pre-determine the concentration of
amendments required to maximize struvite recovery.

DAYTIME ODOR EMISSION VARIATIONS FROM VARIOUS SWINE BARNS

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Sulfuric odorous compounds emitted from pig-feeding operations

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Use of electrodialysis and reverse osmosis for the recovery and concentration of ammonia from swine manure

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Environmental impacts of farm scenarios according to five assessment methods

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Influence of nutrient composition on methane production from animal manures and co-digestion with maize and glycerine

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Biogas production from animal manures and co-digestion of energy crops and agricultural wastes is a very promising option to generate renewable energy in the Ukraine. Biogas plants require a targeted nutrient supply to make optimum use of animal manures, energy crops and agricultural wastes. The research project aimed at finding basic principles and data on the metabolic and energetic turnover during anaerobic digestion of animal manures, energy crops and agricultural wastes in agricultural biogas plants. The influence of animal diet and milk yield on the composition of cattle manure and on the methane yield through anaerobic digestion was investigated.